02|04|2012

Three women from Russian feminist riot grrl
collective Pussy Riot have been arrested and charged with
hooliganism, for a performance of a 'punk prayer' titled "Virgin
Mary, Drive Putin Away" in Moscow's Russian Orthodox Cathedral of
Christ the Saviour.

The performance, which took place in February, protested at
Putin's regime and appealed to the "Holy Mother, Blessed Virgin" to
"chase Putin out". A statement from the collective on freepussyriot.org
states: "Our performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was
a political gesture, which concerns the problem of merging of
Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and the Putin government" and goes on
to say: "We believe that as part of the post-election campaign, Mr
Putin, who received the 'victory' in elections, has decided to
recall all the wrongs that were inflicted [on] him by the
opposition of citizens."

The women, named as Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda
Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevic, are reported to have gone
on a 12 day hunger strike (which has now ended), and a trial is
scheduled for 24 April. More information here, and in
Russian here.

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